“We love the English garden style”
Inspired by 193 trips to England’s finest gardens, a Polish design duo have created a countryside idyll back home. Danuta and Witold Młozniak take us on a tour
Inspired by 193 trips to England’s finest gardens, a Polish design duo have created a countryside idyll back home
This beautiful garden in Przypki, Poland, has a decidedly English look. “It’s the result of our lifetime passion for English gardens,” says Danuta Młoźniak, owner of Polish design company Gardenarium. “It’s taken decades of study and good old-fashioned hard work to create the garden, and I’m very proud of what we’ve achieved.
“We bought the plot in autumn 2014, intending to create a place not only to inspire visitors but also to allow me to run my garden design courses on site,” explains Danuta, whose own home and garden are in Komorów, 11 miles away.
“My passion for English gardens was inspired by BBC Gardeners’ World and its presenter Geoff Hamilton in the 1990s –
AUTUMN MIX
(clockwise from above left)
‘Rubrum’, sedum, aster and solidago; obelisks add height among the autumnal plants; potted surfinia petunias and Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’; echeveria in rusted tin cans; stachys and ornamental grasses with a corten steel fern sculpture; the design workshop with yew and phormium, plus seating area
his photo hangs in my office in a place of honour! Then, as soon as Poland entered the EU in 2004 and we found out about the Chelsea Flower Show, we immediately bought plane tickets and flew over to visit the show. It was a great experience and adventure. That’s where I found inspiration for my garden in Komorów.”
But the trips to England didn’t stop there. “Since then, we’ve travelled to England every year,” says Danuta. “Sometimes we visit up to four times a year, to be inspired by the gardens and to be in the company of like-minded gardening enthusiasts.
We travel to England up to four times a year to be inspired by the gardens
“We began visiting some of the private gardens featured in the National Garden Scheme Yellow Book,” says Danuta. “It’s so inspiring to visit these wonderful gardens for the first time. And now, we’ve been to some gardens nine times – our favourites are Wollerton Old Hall, Shropshire; Arley Hall, Cheshire; Felley Priory, Nottinghamshire; Newby Hall, North Yorkshire; and East Ruston Old Vicarage, Norfolk. They delight us with their design, details and layout – and we really love seeing all the English roses.”
Having worked on their own garden in Komorów, the couple took on the bigger garden in Przypki as a development project. “We’ve only been gardening here in the last few years but already it looks quite well established,” says Danuta. “It’s such a large, windy site and the shelterbelt of trees is still immature, but at least it’s more open and sunny than our garden in Komorów. This one is surrounded by arable farmland with only a wild orchard and birch groves around it.”
When they first arrived on site, the land had been neglected for years. “It was very overgrown with birch seedlings and perennial weeds, but we were charmed by the stream, which now feeds a lake. We started restoring the site by uprooting all the self-sown saplings, ploughing the soil,
VIBRANT HUES
(clockwise from above left) Colour is reflected in the mirror by the seating area with topiary plants, rustic sculptures and a vibrant mix of dahlias, persicaria and red coleus; tactile Stipa tenuissima and Pennisetum advena ‘Rubrum’ play an important role; a metal obelisk and topiaried yew draw the eye among amaranthus, dahlias and hebe
sowing green manures and adding farmyard manure – a soil improvement process that we now repeat twice a year.”
As the garden is relatively large, Danuta has divided it into garden rooms, each with its own theme. “There’s a strong evergreen structure, thanks to the yew hedging and topiary, clipped into various shapes including cones, spheres and even birds,” she says. “We’re very fussy about our beautiful lawns and the edges are impeccably trimmed and razor sharp.”
The couple love to collect ornaments and travel souvenirs from England. “We’ve used quite a lot of salvaged items and recycled materials in the garden too,” says Danuta. “I like rust for its colour and texture, and Witold has created several imposing corten steel sculptures that we’ve positioned at the intersection of certain sightlines in the garden.”
There’s a strong evergreen structure, thanks to yew hedging and topiary
The couple’s workshop is a dark grey modern building that offers the perfect backdrop for pots planted with tender houseplants, including Tradescantia pallida, colourful coleus and Cordyline australis ‘Red Star’, as well as Surfinia petunias and Hakonechola macra ‘Aureola’ that glow in the sunshine.
Danuta’s borders are a masterclass in classic plant combinations, where corten steel flower supports mingle with echinacea seedheads, golden solidago and hydrangea blooms, pennisetum and Verbena bonariensis, which f lowers right through to November in a mild year.
“We like to lie on the sun loungers by the bathing pond, watching the wildlife,” says Danuta. “We listen to the sounds of nature and watch the sunset. Other times
GRASS ACT
(clockwise from above left) A seating area on the lawn with a bowl of sempervivum – special attention is lavished on the grass to ensure the edges are razor sharp; deadheading is a key autumn task; a Corten steel flower echoes the cone-shaped echinacea seedheads with solidago and Hydrangea paniculata; raised veg beds are full of tasty produce
we’ll walk around the garden and sit on one of the numerous seats, chairs or benches to see which new perennials and grasses have come into bloom.”
Since 2004 Danuta and Witold have visited a staggering 193 English gardens, drawing inspiration from gardens old and new. “It’s not just ornamental gardens that have inspired us though – we have a productive vegetable garden too, with 23 hens and one rooster, as we’re keen on becoming more self sufficient. The work is never really completed.
“It took a lot of hard work to create the garden in just four years,” says Danuta. “But I guess that’s what it takes to make a dream come true.” ✿
Corten steel supports mingle with echinacea seedheads and golden solidago